Concentration

While watering my plants, there was a sudden increase in the urgency of the constant grackle calls. I looked up and saw this Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) staring down at me from over our house. I ran inside and grabbed my camera, and was then treated to a brief photo shoot before it flew off. All the while, it was being hounded by a plague of Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) that it mostly ignored. A "plague" is apparently the official name for a group of grackles, and in my opinion, it is well chosen. I liked this shot best of the series, because the hawk was clearly focused on me while surrounded by three dedicated hecklers. My first choice of title was "Target Acquired," but it did not account for the distracting effect of the grackles as well as "Concentration." ___________________________Gary Holmes, photographer: I am an opportunist photographer of nature, landscapes, abstract, and other found objects of interest. I prefer to capture the spontaneity of things and events as they are occurring, and rarely photograph staged subjects other than portraits. Although I have been a photographer for decades, I have only started posting them for others to see since about September 2012. Please see my largest collection of photographs posted at http://500px.com/holmesidepi. I had sufficient encouragement from posts on other sites to try putting some up for sale on Fine Art America (FAA), which offers a wide range of printing and mounting options not currently available on 500px. As a result, I have successfully sold some of my works. Unfortunately, photography is not my primary field, and I have limited time to expand my online presence, but I will continue to steadily post more of my best works on 500px and/or FAA every week. Please revisit my sites periodically. If you love, like, respect, admire, or even feel somewhat favorably inclined toward any of my works, please vote, vote+fave, and/or offer gently constructive criticism or suggest